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W. D. HUSE, W. E. SHEEHAN & G. 1?'. DAVIS. STOP MOTION MBGHANISM PORKNITTING MACHINES. No. 327.170.

Patented Sept. 29.1885.

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N. PUERS. PhowLivlwgmpner. washington, n.0.

'NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WARREN D. HUSE, WILLIAM E. SHEEHAN, AND GEORGE F. DAVIS, OF LA- GONIA,NEW HAMPSHIRE; SAID SHEEHAN AND DAVIS ASSIGNORS TO SAID Hnsn.

STOP-MOTION MECHANISM FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 327,170, datedSeptember 29, 1885.

Application tiled February 7, 1895.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, VARREN D. HUSE, WILLIAM E. SHEEIIAN, and GEORGE F.DA- VIS, all of Laconia, in the county of Belknap and State of NewHampshire, have invented jointly new and useful Improvements in Stop-Motion Mechanism for Knitting-Machines, of which the following, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a speciiication.

Our invention relates to stop-motion mechanism for knitting-machinea'andis designed to automatically stop the machine when the yarn breaks andthe work is run oit from the needles, and at the same time prevent thework so run off from being carried beyond the reach of the operator, andalso to automatically stop the machine at predetermined intervals in theprogress of the knitting for the purpose of permitting a change of yarnswhen knitting striped goods 5 and it consists in certain novelconstructions, arrangements, and combinations of devices, which will bebest understood by reference to the description of the drawings, and tothe claims, to be hereinafter given.

Figure l of the drawings represents a transverse section through the bedof a circularknitting machine, and showing the needlecylinder and thedevices for operating the same with my invention applied thereto inelevation. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line l l on Fig. 3. Fig. 3 isa section on line 2 2 on Fig. 2. Fig. 4L is a horizontal section on line3 3 on Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a portion ofthe bed andshipper-guide with a portion of said guide, the lever-supporting bar,and the shipper cut in section, and showing in elevation the spring andbolt for locking the shipper. Fig. 6 is a detail showing the ball madein two parts. Fig. 7 illustrates the manner of applying the two parts ofthe ball to the cord. Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively a side elevationand a plan of a short section of a chain with Inovable projections orcams thereon which may be used instead of a rope or cord; and Fig. l0 isa side elevation of the tripping-lever, arranged to be used without atruck or roll.

A is the bed of the machine, which is usually mounted upon legs. (Notshown.)

B is theneedle-cylinder, having formed up- (Nn model.)

on or secured to its lower end the bevel gearwheel B', with whichengages the bevel gearwheel C, mounted upon the driving-shaft D, bymeans of a suitable spline and groove, so that it may be moved endwisethereon while it is compelled to revolve therewith, and E is theshipper-lever, pivoted at a to the rear of the bed A, and supported andguided at the front edge of the bed by the yoke-like stand F, andprovided with the arms b b, which en- 6( gage with a circumferentialgroove formed in the hub C' of the gear-wheel C, all in a wellknownmanner.

G is a section of a tubular fabric attached to the needles c c. 6:

H is a bar provided with hooks d d, which engage with the fabric for thepurpose of drawing it upward as fast as it is knit, in a well-knownmanner. Heretoi'ore this has been accomplished by attaching a cord tothe bar 7C H, passing said cord over a pulley suspended from the ceilingofthe room directly over the needle-cylinder, and attaching a weight tothe Vother end of the cord, and whenever the yarn broke and the work wasrun oft' from the 75 needles the work would be carried up to theoverhead pulley, out of reach of the operator, by the sudden descent ofthe weight, and the machine would continue to run until theoperatorcould move the shipper-lever E to throw the wheel C out of gear withthel needle-cylinder.

The object of our invention is to automatically stop the motion ot' theneedle-cylinder whenever the work is run oft', and at the same S5 timeto prevent the work being carried out of the reach of the operator underthe same circumstances; and to this end we employ two pulleys, I I',suspended from the ceiling of the room, andathird, I2, mounted upon themachine, and pass a cord or chain, J, over the pulley I, under thepulley I2, and then over the pulley I', and attach to one end of saidcord or chain the bar H, and to the other end the weight K.

The pulley I is mounted in the yoke-frame L, adjustably secured to theforked stand L' by the bolts e e, which pass through the slots e c' andscrew into the stand L', as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3. Io

M is a weighted brake-shoe or dog pivoted in the forked stand L, andprovided with the curved arm M, in the lower end of which is formed aneye, j', through which the cord .I passes, as shown in Fig. 1. The lowersurface ofthe brake-shoe is made eccentric to its pivot, so that whenthe cord J is drawn taut from the barH to the pulley I the brake-shoewill not interfere with the free passage of the cord over said pulley;but when the work is detached from the needles the preponderance ofweight upon that side of the brakeshoe M to the left of a vertical linedrawn through the center of the pulley I in Fig. I will cause saidbrake-shoe to be swung to the right and thus cause the eccentric lowersurface of the shoerto come in contact with the cordJ, the friction ofwhich will tend to move said shoe still farther to the right and causeit to impinge with great force upon said cord and arrest its movementover the pulley I.

The pulley I2 is mounted upon a journal, g, set in the forked frame N,which is pivoted to the stand N,'adjustably secured to the bracket O bymeans ot' the bolth, which passes through a vertical slot, i, formed inthe upright portion of the bracket O, as shown in Figs. I and 4.

The frame N has the upper portion of its pivoted end made at rightangles, or nearly so, to the top edge of said lever, to serve inconnection with the stand N as a stop to limit the upward movementofsaid lever abovethe position shown in Fig. 1, but whenever the tensionofthe cord or chain J is removed therefrom it is free to move downward,and its weight will depress the long arm of the lever I), pivoted to thebar Q, mounted at its front end upon a downwardly-projecting hub of theguide-stand F, to which it is secured by the set-serewj, and secured atits rear end by the bolt k to the under side of the rear edge ot' thebed A, as shown in Fig. 1.

The lever I is connected to the rear end of the leverP, also pivoted tothe bar Q, and provided atits front end with an eye through which passesthe stem Z of the shipper-locking bolt Z, which has its bearing in asocket formed in the stand F, and has coiled about its stem the springZ2, which tends to force said bolt upward to lock the shippenlever Ewhen it is moved to the right to cause an engagement of the bevelgear-wheels B and C, as shown A:in Figs. l and 5.

The lower end of the stem Z of the belt Z is threaded, and has fittedthereto two nuts, m and m, against which the lever P :ris to draw downthe boltZagainst the tension of the spring Z`Z to release theshipperleior E when it is desired to stop the revolution of thecylinder, said shipper being moved tov the left, when said bolt Z isdepressed, by the reaction of the spring n, one end of which is attachedto said shipper-lever E, and the other end to the bed A, as shown inFig. I.

The cord or chain J is provided at intervals -with projections orenlargements S for the purpose of stopping the machine for changing theyarns in knitting striped goods, or when the web is sufficiently long tobe cut oft, which projections or enlargements when they pass around thepulley I2, and between it and the rear end of the lever l?, will cause adepression of the rear end of said lever and the front end of the leverP', and through it ofthe bolt Z, when the spring n, acting upon theshipper-lever E, will cause the gear-wheel C to be thrown out of gearwith the wheel B and thus stop the revolution of the needle cylinder.

Vhen a cord is used for raising the fabric as the knitting progresses,we prefer to make projections or enlargements S thereon of metal, eitherspherical or in the form of two frustums of cones, united at theirbases, as shown at o in Fig. 1. Ve make these spheres or cones each intwo pieces dovetailed together, as shown in Fig. 6, and form in eachhalt' thereof a semieircular groove, which, when the two parts areplaced together, form a hole of somewhat less diameter than the diameterof the cord, so that in order to apply them to the cord said cord mustbe compressed so as to create sufficient friction to prevent the sphereor cone being moved upon the cord by passing between the pulley I2 andthe lever I when once adjusted to the desired position on the cord.

In order to apply the sphere or cone to the cord, the two halves areplaced as shown in Fig. 7, and are then forced together by means of apair of pinchers or pliers, and they may be adjusted to any desiredposition upon the cord J by separating them and moving them to the newposition and uniting them again in the same manner.

If it is desired to use a chain instead of a cord for carrying thelever-operating projections, the chain may be made as illustrated inFigs. 8 and 9, each link being provided with a transverse groove, o,upon one side thereof, and a screw-hole extending through said link atright angles to the groove i", and the camprojection S has its base madeto fit into said groove, and is secured in position on the link by meansof a single screw, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 8.

rIhe rear end of the lever P may be made plain, as shown in Fig. 10, orit may be forked and provided with the anti-friction roll s, for theprojections or enlargements S to act upon, as shown in Fig. l.

In knitting striped goods in which the stripes are parallel with thecourses of stitches knitted, it is necessary to change the yarns atintervals, or, in other words, to substitute a yarn of a given color fora yarn of another color at the end of each stripe. This change is madeautomatically in some machines, the widths of the several stripes beingdetermined by a pattern mechanism which controls the lOO IIO

yarn-changing mechanism so as to cause such change to take place when agiven number of courses have been knitted. An objection to this is thata change in the size of the yarn changes the widths of the stripes andalso the length of the stocking or other garment being knitted, whereasit is very desirable in knitting a given pattern to make the stripesofthe same widths whether ne or coarse yarn is used.

A great many other machines are in use in which no automaticyarn-changing devices are employed, but the change is made by theoperator stopping the machine at the proper time, making the necessarychange in the yarns, and then starting the machine again. This isobjectionable because of the liability of imperfect work being producedon account of neglect on the part of the operator.

Both of the foregoing objections are entirely overcome by our invention,the stripes always being knit of a corresponding width in all of thearticles knit, whether the yarn is fine or coarse, and the machine beingauto matically stopped whenever the stripe has been knitted to thedesired width, the spheres or projections being first adjusted to thedesired Varying or uniform distances apart, as the case maybe, to givethe desired number and widths of stripes.

The operation of our invention will be readily understood from theforegoing without further description.

We are aware ofthe inventions described in Letters Patents Nos. 143,051,September 23, 1873; 256,533, April 18, 1882, and 297,487, April 22,1884, and do not claim anything contained therein; but

What we claim as new,and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is-

1. 1n combination with the bed, needlecylinder, and needles of aknitting-machine, and its operating-gears, a shipper-lever, a spring formoving said lever in one direction, a bolt for locking saidshipper-1ever against the tension of said spring, a bar provided withhooks for engaging the knitted fabric, two suspension-pulleys arrangedabove the machine, a pivoted frame, provided at its pivoted end with ashoulder or stop to limit its upward movement, and located upon the rearofthe bed, a third pulley mounted in said pivoted frame, a cord or chainconnected at one end to said work-supporting bar, and passing over oneof the upper pulleys, under the lower pulley, and then over the otherone of the upper pulleys, and having a weight attached at the other endthereof, and a compound lever connected at one end to theshipper-locking bolt, and its other end extended to a point beneath andin close promiXity to said lower pulley and its pivoted frame, allconstructed, arranged, and adapted to operate to stop the machine whenwork becomes detached from the needles substantially as described.

2. In combination with the needle-cylinder, its needles, andoperating-gears, the shipperlever E, the spring n, the locking-bolt Z Z,the spring Z2, the levers P and P, the bar H, provided with hooks, thecord or chain J, the pulleys I, I', and 12, and the adjustableprojections or enlargements S upon said cord or chain, and the weight K,all arranged and adapted to operate substantially as and for thepurposes described. a

3. In combination with the needle-cylinder and needles of aknitting-machine, the bar H, the cord J, connected at one end to saidbar, guiding-pulleys for said cord, and a Weight attached to the otherend of said cord, the pendent brake-shoe or dog M, having its lower endeccentric to its axis, and provided with the arm M', having its lowerend con structed to rest against said cord below the first of saidpulleys, as shown, whereby when the cord is taut, the shoe or dog` M israised from contact with the cord, and when the cord becomes slack saidshoe engages with said cord and clamps it between it and the pulley I,substantially as described.

4. In combination with the cord J, the sphere or cone S, made in twoparts dovetailed together and clamped firmly to said cord in a fixedposition, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this day of ofFebruary, A.D. 1885.

